Reredos

Quick meaning: Reredos is a noun meaning The back of an open fire-hearth, in medieval halls and in some later architecture inspired by them.

Meaning

The back of an open fire-hearth, in medieval halls and in some later architecture inspired by them.

More Meanings

1. (chiefly Western Christianity) A screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images, akin to the iconostasis of the Eastern Churches.

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: retable (often synonymous)

There seem to be no remains of wooden reredoses of the fourteenth century, though there are a number of examples in stone.

A bad reredos will ruin the best church ever designed; and, although a good reredos cannot convert a bad church into a good one, it may do much to lessen the offensiveness of its badness.

Confusion has reigned in scholarly interpretation, however, because the dark-colored leaves have shown through the succeeding coats of paint across the reredos, interfering with the later scenes.

Word Forms

• reredoses
• reredosse

Synonyms for reredos

Depending on context, synonyms include retable, altarpiece.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include altarpiece, reredosse, reredorse, rood, reed, randistirion.

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